


In the Shadows

by Navinoodle



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Awesome Sharon Carter (Marvel), Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kid Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Nick Fury Knows All, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Natasha Romanov, Red Room (Marvel), SHIELD, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, idk - Freeform, possible future love triangle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29797785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Navinoodle/pseuds/Navinoodle
Summary: Trained to work in the shadows, Karina Petrova likes to remain behind the scenes. As her previous mentor becomes an Avenger, Karina instead she repays her dues by continuing to work undercover in SHIELD. When her and Agent 13 are assigned in a long term undercover job watching America's golden boy, Karina figures it'll be just another mission. Boy was she ever wrong.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov & Original Female Character(s), Sharon Carter & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	In the Shadows

**My birth name is ironic.** _Karina._ It means 'pure', whoever named me must have had a different plan in mind than the one fate allowed. I sometimes wonder what that life would have looked like. Mostly in the dead of night, while waiting for the sun to come up, surrounded by silently sleeping girls. I've tried to figure out what the others dream about, but they're all blank slates, just like me. I once asked Natalia what she dreamt about. She demonstrated the choreography that her sleeping mind came up with, it involved quite a few knives. I should have known, the Black Widow never falters. But I do. I'd like to think I'll get better with age, but excuses are not to be tolerated. Natalia doesn't need excuses.

I think about this as I pull the trigger. I don't even flinch as the bullet leaves the chamber, soaring through the air rapidly and meeting its target in a direct hit. The middle-aged man falls limp, still held up by the ropes tying him to a chair. He died almost immediately. I like to think of it as mercy. The man had already soiled himself in terror, and I took away that fear. He didn't feel any pain at his end. The man was innocent, taken off the street for the sole purpose of target practice.

I lower the pistol, removing my focus from the man I had just killed. The room was filled with similar corpses, all tied to chairs with gunshot wounds dead center of their foreheads. I don't dwell on the fact that I just ended a life or the tears that his wife will shed soon enough. Instead, I move on, turning to my next target and raising the pistol.

The Black Widow has been failing. She just turned 18, and the Madame was preparing Natalia for her graduation ceremony. I notice her mistakes, she knows her faults, yet she continues to make them. Madame isn't happy.

"Sloppy. Pretending to fail. The ceremony is necessary for you to take your place in the world."

"I have no place in the world," Natalia answers, using the words we'd been told multiple times before.

"Exactly."

Natalia will go through the ceremony anyway. It's the last step. I hope to go through it in five years, after all, the only alternative is death. Once she graduates, she'll get solo field missions. I don't remember what it's like being alone, I'm always surrounded by students, guards, or teachers. Not to mention the fact that Natalia will travel the world. In a month, I'll be eligible for field operations, but working with a partner is different. I'll be partnered with a full agent, shadowing them most of the way. Being alone in the world is different. No one watching, monitoring my every move. I can only imagine.

It's been a year since the Black Widow was released upon the world. She'd made a name for herself in that short time, and a few enemies. They were the ones currently shooting at us. My fourth time in the field and everything goes wrong. They somehow knew the mission, it was supposed to be a simple assassination, but a small group of armed men started attacking us. According to their uniforms, the attackers were a part of SHIELD, an American organization. There are only three of them in the room, but no doubt there will be others outside.

"On the count of three, you run," Natalia yells over the gunfire. As a superior, her order must be followed with no questions asked, but what the Black Widow asked could result in her end. Returning to the Red Room after a failed mission with their most prized assassin dead would no doubt result in my own demise. But, if I do go against orders and the two of us survive, I'll be eliminated from the program...also life. Neither seem like good options, but at least one could result in Natalia surviving. Maybe Drekov and the Madame will appreciate my part in the Black Widow's survival, making my death painless. There's only one way the Natalia will make it out alive with my death not being pointless. I have to die protecting her.

Before Natalia can start counting, I quickly twist away from the counter we'd been using for cover. Ignoring my superior's shout, I aim my Makarov pistol at the first man I see. His Glock is aimed back at me, proving the men to be SHIELD. He wields an American pistol while I use a Russian one. In my brief moment of thought, my body is shoved to the ground, but the assailant comes from an unexpected direction.

I look up to see Natalia covering my body with her own, shooting at the SHIELD agents and in turn, protecting me. Students of the Red Room don't protect each other, in fact, we kill one another regularly. The Black Widow doesn't need to protect me, I'm just another replaceable student. Plus the fact that protecting me put her right in the line of fire. Natalia is my guardian angel.

Looking around, trying to aid my savior, with my new viewpoint, I spot a large chandelier hanging in between us and SHIELD. Leaning around Natalia, I aim my gun at the chain connecting the light to the ceiling. Deep breath in, aim, breath out, fire. The shot pings as the bullet slide's through the metal. For a second, I hear nothing, even as the gunfire continues, but the fighting is silenced by the deafening shatter of glass.

In no time at all, Natalia grabs my arm, pulling me up and dragging me out of the building. We both sprint, using a back entrance we'd cased in preparation for the mission. She still has ahold of me as we push through the door, preparing our escape. Of course, SHIELD has an Agent on the outside but something's different. Natalia stops abruptly, and both of us aim our guns at the one man.

"Wait." The agent says, his arms held up surrender. Natalia doesn't shoot, but her gun is still aimed at the man. I make sure to follow her lead. "Just, hear me out."

"Why should I?" Natalia asks, her voice conniving, "You're the one with two guns trained on you."

"And you're the one with five sniper's trained on you." The agent reveals, with a glint in his eye, "This doesn't have to get messy, all you have to do is lower your guns, and we'll have a nice chat."

"What's stopping me from shooting you anyway?" Natalia continues, grilling the smug agent.

"Given how you used your body as a shield to protect her, I don't think you want your little protogé to die." The Black Widow stiffens, her hand squeezing my arm hard enough to bruise. I hide the flinch of pain under my confusion. I still don't know what Natalia did what she did, but her reaction to this man claimed confirms that she has some level of attachment to me. A weakness that this man discovered and is now exploiting. The man waits long enough to confirm Natalia's lack of response before continuing his speech.

"SHIELD sent me to cross off the Black Widow, you've been causing a lot of commotion and not in a good way. In the higher-up's opinion, you're too far gone, luckily I'm softer than the director."

"Soft makes you weak. Who's to say you aren't strong enough to follow through on the order that kills my partner?" Natalia points out.

"The fact that you haven't shot me yet." He smiles sadly, all signs of smugness gone. "You're hearing me out because you want to hear what I've got to say. You now know that you're not getting out of this situation a free woman, and given your soviet origin, you have orders to get shot before captured."

"American's are notorious for being soft in interrogations. I doubt you could break either one of us."

"Still, things aren't adding up, they wouldn't want you to take that chance. Unless of course, you're not the biggest fan of your employers. You want an out and I'm offering." He raises his eyebrows. Clearly, SHIELD has no idea who we truly are. Students of the Red Room aren't employed and we never leave, at least, not alive. "I don't think you're a heartless monster, and sure that may make me naive but I'm so certain that I'm going against orders and offering you a position at SHIELD. You can use your skills for a good cause and have more control of your life. The kid will too." 

Natalia looks at the man conflicted, but why? Natalia was loyal to a fault, except for that one time a year ago, but she quickly sobered up and realized her purpose. But one of the man's words hits me funny, he's going against orders like it's nothing. I know the American's are weak but not killing those who go against orders? Why are they still loyal? Shouldn't most of them defect and work for a different country? Maybe it's their obscene pride that keeps them so patriotic and loyal. If the KGB worked that way, Natalia and I would be prancing over to America at this man's foolish proposition.

"You'll take us both?" I look up at Natalia astonished. Is this another ploy to get herself out of here? Or is she really thinking about defecting to the Americans? The KGB has no lenience for traitors. If Natalia really plans to switch sides, it's my job to kill her in the most painful way possible, or else I too will be labeled as a traitor. "And give her a choice?"

Why would she ask about me? I have no clue what's going on, it's a new feeling for me. I've been prepared for everything, I know what to do, but for some reason, I can't move. Even if Natalia's defiance is in part about protecting me, I still have to eliminate her, besides, her attachment is a weakness, it's either her or me.

"I'm giving both of you a choice, and a new chance." The agent looks at Natalia sympathetically, using every tactic in the soft, American book.

"Deal."

As soon as I hear the word leave her mouth, my arm rips out of her grasp. My torso pivots to face her, hands gripping my pistol that's now guided on her. I can feel my finger on the trigger as my mind catches up to my body. Some mental block was stopping me from pressing down, possibly the fact that she used to be my superior. But that doesn't feel right, she's no longer the Black Widow, she's only labeled as a traitor, all titles stripped.

Natalia lowers her gun from the agent faces me, I can hear the man whisper something into his comms, but I don't pay attention as her expression comes into view. She's blank, emotionless, just like she was trained to be, but the Black widow isn't defending herself. It's the opposite, she drops her own pistol. I flinch as the gun hits the concrete, clattering away. The traitor steps forward seeming like she's going to take away the gun, so I tighten my grip. She doesn't move her arms, continuing forward until she finally stops with the barrel of my gun pressed against her forehead.

"Do it." The traitor says with a harsh tone that I flinch at, "Kill the filthy defect. Become a hero. The girl who killed the traitorous Black Widow."

I stare her in the eyes, my finger not moving from the trigger. The energy between us is strong, pinging like the neurons firing in the brain. My jaw clenches in frustration at my hesitation. Breathe in. Aim. Breathe out...No...I can't. I'm a weak traitor...just like the Black Widow. My idol. My arms fall, dropping the gun, but my eyes continue to stare into her own. I feel the sting, as my eyes start to water. I can't hold it in anymore, as a pathetic sob escapes my lips.

Natalia looks back at me, as her eyes mirror mine. She pulls me to her body, wrapping her arms around me tightly. I stiffen, waiting for the blow that has yet to come, but it never does. Eventually, I give in to the embrace, melting into Natalia's embrace and letting the tears fall freely.


End file.
